Dance With the Devil
by Dengel1995
Summary: Nero Left Fortuna after she was gone. Empty he traveled to Capulet to fill the hole in his chest with the comfort of someone like him. He found so much more than comfort, he found acceptance
1. Chapter  1  Arrival

Dance With The Devil

"Say goodbye, as we dance with the devil 't you dare look at him in the eye, as we dance with the devil tonight."~Breaking Benjamin~

Nero shivered as he walked through the chilly night air. He missed the balmy, sunny weather of Fortuna already, wishing that he was there now wrapped in Kyrie's gentle warmth. Sniffling he ran the back of his arm across his face to try and starve off the sneeze he knew was inevitable. Adjusting the duffle bag on his back along with Red Queens carrying case. No Nero was not happy. He was cold , tired and lost, oh yes so very lost he was, Capulet's ugly block buildings blocking out everything including the fresh air and bright stars. Pushing his tired legs on wards he spied a diner not to far from where he was standing at the crosswalk . Hurrying himself a little more he figured he could get some food for his gut and a place to rest his weary body. He made it to the dinner, noting with dismay that the place was simply named 'Grease.' Ignoring the revulsion he felt at the name he hoped that it was a little more nicer then its name, He wasn't prissy by any standards he just liked the places that prepared his grubb to at least pass the basic sanitation laws.

The bell tinkled as he walked in, sounding funny to him for some reason. Snorting on his laugh he figured that it would be kind of rude to laugh at someone else's place, even if it was called 'Grease' _shudder_. Being the kind of night it was weather and time included

He wasn't surprised that the place was pretty damn empty. Aside from the waitress and a cook in the back there looked to be only a few graveyard-shift workers and a man in the back wearing a suit and tie who was meticulously reading the paper.

Nero walked over to the counter and took a seat at one of the barstools. Without speaking the waitress waltzed over and dropped a ratty looking menu in front of Nero. Nero barely glanced at the woman the hunger pains his stomach were making were more important at the moment then the silent waitress. He made a snap decision and impatiently waved the waitress over, his usual scowl fixed on his face(Talk about friendly right?). Lifting her pen to her pad the waitress stayed silent as she stood ready to take down his order. Huffing Nero looked at the cook in the back, he looked as if he was moving at the speed of a slug demon! He cleared his throat and spoke to the waitress "yeah, I'll have the cheeseburger with fries and hold the pickles and tomatoes, also I want a coke with that." The waitress didn't say anything just wrote his order down on the paper before tearing it away from the pad and clipping it on a hook. She hit the bell once and went to go stand off somewhere or clear tables or whatever.

Nero was right about the cook being slow as hell, It took twenty-three minutes for him to make a simple cheeseburger with fries. When the cat got your tongue waitress finally came back Nero dove head first nose closed into his food, he tore it to pieced devouring the last crumb and gulping down the last of his coke until the ice clicked against his teeth.

Wiping his sleeve across his mouth he went up to the waitress to pay for his meal. "Hey, hey Lady I wanna pay for the food." The waitress kept her back to him not indicating that she heard him or anything. Feeling his already frayed nerves beginning to untangle a little more, Nero snapped , if there was one thing he hated it was being ignored!

He turned the woman by her shoulders till she was facing him. He was about to give the bitch a piece of his mind until he got a look at her face, or what was left of it. It literally looked like her face had melted off and was hanging on in what looked like strips of flesh was all that was left to cling to her skull. Nero stumbled back from the creature a look of disgust marring his features, unable to control his gag reflex he turned to his left and blew chunks. When he finished heaving he immediately jumped back from the woman, drawing Blue Rose from her holster. Scanning the room he called himself a fuckin moron twice over in his head for not noticing sooner that something was wrong. The people he had thought were just over tired graveyard shift workers were rotted looking like the waitress, hmm call Nero crazy but he thinks he had a little zombie infestation. He had to hold in the urge to dry heave though when he realized a zombie had handled the his food.

He prayed that in his haste he had not swallowed a finger or a chunk of zombie. _Blegh!_

Nero expected your typical slow moving zombie and was quite surprised(more like freaked the fuck out) when the zombie waitress and a truck driver guy launched themselves at him with surprising agility. He would have kept his balance had the fat one not side tackled him and if he wasn't still reeling from the fact that he was fighting flesh eating undead. Needless to say he hit the floor hard enough to knock Blue Rose from his hand. _Shit!_ He tried to wiggle out from underneath the cadavers but it looked like along with the super speed they also possessed some super strength and a super stench as well.

"Haven't you guys ever heard of deodorant or at least of a mint! Gah!" As if to prove a point the zombie waitress above him opened her mouth to hiss at him, showing off the rotted teeth and every other goody she had in there. Nero kept struggling until he got his right arm free. He activated his devil bringer and slammed the zombie bitch into the wall across the room knocking her into the kitchen and into Bob the Zombie Chef. The next one on his list was the trucker guy, he whipped his devil bringer around and caught him by his flannel shirt and threw him into the small horde of advancing zombies. _Bang! _Just like bowling, not that Nero had ever been bowling but he'd seen it on enough TV shows to get the gist of it.

Leaping over to his bag he unlocked Red Queen from her case and quickly started to rev her up. Smirking he raised his flammin baby up so the zombies could get a good look at her. "Heh I know that if you want to get rid of a few zombies the best cure is a few chopped up body parts and _FIRE_!" He leaped into the crowd and proceeded to do just that yeah rotted burning flesh made Bael's scent smell like roses compared to this shit. While the zombies were fast, it was just _super human speed_, whereas Nero had _super demon speed_. Moving with agile quickness and fluid motion he cut down the nasty fuckers and burned them to a crispy ash.

When he was finished. He brushed off any ash that clung to his coat and pants. He was startled by the sound of someone clapping(hmm cliché much.) The man who had been reading the paper was standing in the center of the room with his paper tucked under one arm and not a speck of gore or ash anywhere on him. The man wasn't old like Nero had thought but looked to be just a few years older than him. "Well done, my good sir, well done! It's been awhile since I've seen a show that good, but I'm sorry to say old chap your no Ginger Rogers." Snarling Nero trained Blue Rose until it was level with the man's forehead. "Listen Pal I don't give a damn about this Ginger Bitch or whatever, all I wanna know is who the fuck are you and did you make those zombies." The man didn't flinch at being stared down with the barrel of a gun. Instead he bowed to the waist and answered in a cultured voice similar to an English accent but more singsongy . "My dear boy I am quite surprised you have not heard of me , for I have most certainly heard of you and the rest of those filthy things mistaken for heirs of our once proud and noble general lord Sparda. I guess I can forgive your ignorance since you are still a whelp, I am _Der Puppenspieler!" _

At the revelation of his name the freak actually spread his arms and did a twirl. To Nero him doing that was almost as nauseating as the zombies. He shot at the man and the man blurred to the side dodging Nero's bullet while spewing laughter from his large mouth. Growling Nero squeezed off a few more rounds and snarled at the dancing man "Look you freakin ballerina stay still so I can blow your brains out and what the hell does der Puppenspieler mean anyway." The man laughed again before twirling once more and ripping away the hat so Nero could see him clearly. Had Nero been either a chick or a gay he would have called the man attractive, but alas he was neither. "Dear boy my name you will have to look up for its meaning and instead of blowing my brains how about something more pleasant for both of us!" The man had to dodge another hail of bullets from Nero's gun "Hoho you walk a straight path I see, Guess I shall not be your Astaire my beautiful Ginger!" The man dodged a slash from Red Queen this time the blade barely missing his throat. He blurred again when he slammed into Nero knocking him into the wall and pinning him to the wall by his throat fingers digging into Nero's windpipe "If you won't be my dancing doll, doll how about my pretty little skeleton in my basement." The man's jolly voice be came darker and deeper at the last part of his offer. Nero struggled but couldn't break the man's hold. Spots danced in front of his eyes as struggled to drag the tiniest bit of air into his starved lungs. As everything began to grow fuzzy and dark he heard the most blessed sound ever. "Hey Twinkle Toes how's about giving the kid some air and you come on over hear and have a chat with the big boys." As Nero lost consciousness he heard another more cold and artic voice say "Indeed."

**Authors Note : Hello everyone :D, I favorited enough stories and finally got the balls to put up one of my own XD. But yeah constructive criticism is very welcome along with suggestions about how to make the story better. I thank you for taking time to read this story and I hope it wasn't to painful. Thanks Again ^_^. **


	2. Chapter 2 Uncertainty

Dance With the Devil 

"Where can I turn? Cause I need something moreSurrounded by uncertainties I'm so unsure of Tell me why I feel so alone cause I need to Know to whom do I owe"

~Paramore~

Slipping. He was falling hard. He tried to open his eyes, but it felt like

they were seared shut. All he could hear was voices, but they sounded so far

away. Nero felt like he was rocking like that time Faustus had taken him Credo

and Kyrie fishing. He briefly remembered that he had no legs for sea travel

and had gotten sick. He hoped he wouldn't get sick now but the rocking went on

for awhile before it stopped. He heard voices again bits and snatches of

conversation floated around him. 'He feels hot man, like he's burning up. He

must've been drugged by that guy or something, Get Trish. She'll have

something for him…' That's all Nero heard before he went under again.

_Ugh I feel like warmed-over demon-shit_. When Nero opened his

eyes, he was sprawled in a huge bed. Blanching he tried to sit up but got an

ice pick to the eye in the form of the headache from hell. Flopping back down

on to the mattress he gritted his teeth and turned the air purple with a

stream of expletives that would have made even Dante blush.

(**me: **Pfft Dante doesn't have the ability to blush.)

"Woo wee that's some mighty fine cursing kid should I get a bar of soap." Nero

felt himself go rigid when he noticed a few things, they went through his mind

like snapshots in a slide show. One he was in a bed with red silk sheets and

pillows. Two Dante was shirtless in only his leather pants. Three Nero was

naked from to his boxers. Ignoring the pain in his head, he scrambled out from

underneath the comfortable sheets and launched himself across the room and

into a corner. Hissing like a feral feline he pointed at Dante with one arm

extended and the other clutching the sheet to his body. " BASTARD WHAT THE

HELL DID YOU TO ME? YOU NASTY FUCKER." To his surprise, Dante just leered at

him "Heh nothing you didn't like kid. That's for sure. I've heard some pretty

loud moaners in my time as a stud but you're one of the loudest I've ever

hea-." Dante didn't get to finish his sentence cause a fist connected to the

back of his head. "Dante stop this foolishness. The boy has just gone through

an attack and his fever just broke last night." Nero's heard the phrase 'eyes

so wide they pop out of your head' he thought his should be doing it right now

and waited for them to hit the floor and roll underneath the bed. Standing

behind Dante, fist still raised in the air, as if he was considering making

contact with Dante's thick skull again, was what appeared to be Dante, but

even in his state of shock Nero's mind registered the fact while looking

exactly like Dante his face was harder, harsher and his eyes, the eyes were a

dead giveaway. The ice in them could have frozen hell over twice!

Unlike Dante (and Nero), the man was fully clothed A button-down shirt in a

navy blue color and black leather pants tucked into a pair of expensive

looking dark-brown boots.

Nero slid down to the floor, the sheet forgotten as it pooled around his feet.

Mouth agape he starred at the two figures in front of him. Rubbing his head,

Dante glared over his shoulder at Vergil. "Thanks for the 'love tap' Verge."

Thwack! Dante's kinda double or Vergil, as the man was known, had hit him

again. "Little Brother, the boy looks traumatized. If you don't tell him what

really happened, I will." Dante exchanged a look with his brother who was

unreadable to Nero before he turned around to face Nero. "Listen Kid, we kinda

rescued you at that dinner. The freak in the suit had some kind of poison on

his nails, and we had Trish make you an antidote. You remember her, right? She

was posing as Gloria, well anyway we fixed you up. You got a fever, so we put

you in my room and Vergil here, the little mother hen, nursed you back to

health, and it's been two days. Also, take these pills, they're for headache you're probably feeling no doubt you wish you could blow your brains out rather than deal with

it, a side effect of the antidote sadly, also if you're up to it, bathrooms down the

hall, and we will be downstairs, ok, good, see ya." Dante moved back into the

hallway but not before putting the pills on the dresser next to the door along

with a glass of water. Vergil stepped out to shutting the door softly behind

him.

Nero staggered over to the dresser and swallowed the pills and downed the

water. His throat hurt as his muscles contracted from swallowing the water. He

leaned against the dresser and looked around the room. It looked kinda messy

and there was crap all over the floor, so he could definitely see this as

Dante's room. He wondered if Vergil's room was as meticulously as neat as he

appeared to be, hell he even wondered if the guy lived here anyway he seemed

more like the mansion or modern apartment kind of guy. Nero was pleased to see

Red Queen and his duffle bag against the wall near the nightstand. Walking

over to it, he gingerly bent down to fish out a pair of old ratty jeans with

holes in the knees, and a tee that said 'Piss off and Die, Scum'. Grabbing his

other essentials he made his way to the door and opened it. Like Dante had

said the bathroom was at the end of the hallway, the door slightly ajar. He

shuffled quietly down the hallway taking notice of the other two doors both of

which were shut, and quickly opened the door so that he was enclosed inside

the bathroom. Stripping quickly he slipped inside the shower and turned it to

hot, gritting his teeth while he waited out the cold water. He quickly washed

up and just stood under the spray letting his mind wander to other places.

"Nero, Nero, come and play with me!" Kyrie called out to a six-year old Nero,

who was perched up in a tree, his eyes wandered till they landed on his best

friend. Though a year older than him, he was still taller than her and often

got the enjoyment of being able to reach the cookie jar on the counter before

she could. Of course, he always shared his bounty with her. Tucking his book

into the knothole of the tree he was sitting in, he jumped down from his perch

landing on all fours like a cat causing Kyrie to squeal and giggle in delight

at her buddy's abilities. Nero smiled crookedly at her as he took her hand,

and they raced over to play in the sandbox their childish laughter filling the

backyard with noise.

"Nero, Nero, NERO!" Startled Nero jumped as Dante opened the door a little.

"Sheesh kid, I thought you were dead or something. I brought you a towel,

don't stay in there too long, or you'll freeze your balls off or something."

Dante laughed as Nero flung a shampoo bottle at his head. Dante caught it

before it could connect with his face. "Ooh is the baby having a temper

tantrum, maybe you need to take a time out." Dante laughed once more before

shutting the door. Nero's face was flaming red in both anger and

embarrassment. Shutting off the water he stepped out of the shower. After

toweling off he yanked his clothes on to his damp body and quickly hung up his

towel and left the bathroom. When he got back to his room fishing out his

black converses from his bag, he quickly slipped them on after finding a pair of matching socks. Running his fingers through the wet strands of his hair he left it as it was

not much to do with anyway in his opinion. Tugging at his clothes a bit more

he snarled at himself for stalling, he wasn't some damn girl nervous about his

first date or some shit, he was just going downstairs to where Dante and

Vergil were. He couldn't stop his stomach from roiling a bit He felt nervous

like something big was gonna go down or something. His head felt better, the

ice pick from before had turned into a toothpick in the eye, so in other words

he felt a little better. Sighing he took one last look at the room before

shutting the light off and going down the stairs.

Nero clomped down the rickety stairs, his heavy footfalls shaking them.

He was afraid for a moment that the stairs would collapse underneath his

weight, but they held. Surprisingly, the front room was clean, based on the

state of Dante's room it was surprisingly clean, but he guessed that Vergil

was behind the state of the room. The brothers were seated on the couch.

Vergil's legs were crossed at the ankles, and a book was in his hands, but he

wasn't reading it. His eyes were trained on Nero. Dante, on the other hand,

looked as laid back as possible, arms thrown on the back of the couch, legs

spread, and he had a beer in his hands. The contrast between the two of them

was so obvious Nero would have laughed had he not been so uneasy. Moving away

from the foot of the stairs he came to stand in front of a big desk in the

center of the room. There was another desk to his left just as big but neat and orderly.

Dante stood up quickly and downed the rest of his beer crunching the beer can in his fist and he tossed it into the garbage can next to the door that looked like it led to a kitchen.

It made a dinging sound that echoed around the room. "Hey Kid, cop a squat."

Dante sauntered over to the desk settling down into a big chair and propping

his legs up on the desk feet crossed at the ankles, arms behind his head

supporting it, a lazy smile plastered on his face. Nero looked at the couch

where Vergil was calmly sitting. Nero ducked his head down feeling a blush

spread across his face. _Why am I blushing, aw fuck, so embarrassing_. Walking

over to the couch he flopped down and crossed his leg over his bent one.

"So… What did you wanna talk about anyway." Nero hated the undertone of

nervousness that he detected in his voice. "Well, Nero we have something

important to tell you. You see we know how you're related to Sparda now."

Vergil's calm voice was like nails to Nero with the statement he just heard,

feeling like his breath was coming faster and that the room was getting

hotter. He wasn't one for fainting, but right now he wished he was, so he

could have missed the next words from Vergil's lips. "Nero you are the

grandson of Sparda, and I am your sire." The world went black again and Nero

heard far-off voices shouting, calling his name. Before he lost consciousness

completely he felt himself being lifted into strong arms and a voice saying

firmly "I've got him."

**Authors Note: **Ah hello again everyone, not what you were expecting eh? Or

maybe you liked the sappiness. It felt kinda obvious where I was going with

this chapter. I kinda like this chapter at the same time I wanna tear it to

shreds :P. But yeah I feel like a jackass for posting such a short chapter. It

looks long where I'm standing but in reality, its kinda short -_-. Well write

a review or flame me if you wish. I use the flames to burn my trash, so

they're welcome.

**Authors Note 2: **Hello again times two! My dear readers this chapter has been edited by a very lovely person named **xXChantoXx. **Once again thank you so much Chanto. The story was corrected for grammar (**me: **I love English but I always hate doing the grammar -_-). Also I'd like to thank all the people so far who were kind enough to review my story. I will try to answer every review that you guys write unless you would prefer that I didn't.

SirenaLoreley

xXChantoXx

Dragonblade901

MYV 382

You guys Rock My Socks *sets out a virtual feast* :D. Because of you fabulous people I will be working diligently on the next chapter!*leaves to write*

-Dengie


	3. Chapter 3 Memories

Dance With The Devil

"_This is what it means to be held_

_How it feels, when the sacred is torn from your life_

_And you survive"_

~Natalie Grant-Held~

Vergil looked down on Dante, who was kneeling on the floor from where Nero was laying prone and still, his face looked wan from all the stress he'd undergone. Dante stood in one fluid motion and returned Nero to the couch before turning to face Vergil. "Vergil what's your deal? Why didn't you catch him?" Dante said, his blue eyes lightening to match Vergil's winter ones. For the first time in his life Vergil looked away from Dante before he spoke "I… have no right to do such a thing…, I am his father yes but I have not raised the boy or anything, we are strangers to one another and strangers do not act with such familiarity." Looking at his brother Dante saw that even though his voice had not changed, there was the undertone of something that wasn't there before.

Choosing his words carefully, he made sure to articulate them. "Vergil a stranger would stop someone from falling and everyone starts out as virtual strangers and then you build up from that into something more." Dante was pleased to see Vergil looking him in the eyes again. "Thank you Dante, I appreciate what you've said. Could you watch Nero, I need to go out for a while." Dante nodded his head in acceptance before sauntering back to his desk.

Vergil walked along the crowded sidewalks, one of many pedestrians braving the wrath of Jack Frost. He pulled his jacket closer to him, hands stuffed into his jacket pockets unusual for him since he hated the stance, he supposed he could lower himself for a while, it was too fucking cold to be a 'rigid prick,' as Dante often called him. Feeling his eyes sting from the sharp icy winds he removed the sunglasses he kept in an out of sight pocket, smoothly sliding them across his eyes, he continued walking feeling cold inside and out.

Sighing Dante ran a hand through already messy hair. Glancing over at Nero he could see that the kid would be out of it for a while. He could understand why Nero would faint, hell anyone would have swayed at the bombshell that was unfairly dropped upon him. Sneezing Dante swiped a hand across his nose before walking to check the thermostat. He cursed when he saw the heat wasn't even working, maybe he should have looked at buying a house or an apartment that a least wasn't subzero temperatures. "Hmm I bet a bottle of Jack and a nap would warm me real nice, right kid?" He wasn't exactly expecting an answer and wasn't surprised when he didn't receive one. Pulling his beloved crimson coat from the back of his chair he grabbed his wallet and had one hand on the door before he stopped looking back at the kid. "Awww hell I can't just leave you here by yourself these damn doors don't lock and even if they did I ain't got any key for them." At the risk of bodily harm and being called a pedophile by Nero he heaved the kid over his shoulder into a fireman carry and brought him up to the room he was in before. Laying Nero on the bed he draped covers over him and left him where he would be somewhat safer and be warm.

Nero knew he was dreaming, how else would he be in Fortuna and the size of a four year old again. Glad he was the practical type who could recognize fiction from non-fiction, or a better term would be past from present. He tried to look to the left and move and found that he couldn't. Growling to himself in his head he cursed the fact that he had no control in this dream, he was just another member of the audience. Sighing once more to himself he thought that he might as well enjoy the ride and just coast along.

He paid attention to what he was doing and saw that he; well little he was running along a dirt pathway his short legs pumping as his breath in and out. Still going he saw that he was fast approaching a house his house in fact the one he shared with his mother the first few years of his life. He felt his heart lurch when he saw her. He couldn't get over the fact that she looked just as he remembered. She wasn't a beauty or supermodel glamorous. She had even features he got the shape of his eyes from her he was told. Her eyes a warm grey stood out startlingly against the black frames of her glasses and her dark brown hair was pulled into a ponytail away from her face so it wouldn't bother her while she worked.

She never had an actual job he recalled asking her once why, and she had told him that because his father had left them money to live comfortably. She did like to work with her hands though. He could always find her with hands in soil or painting something on the canvas or drawing with charcoal. She loved to get messy he recalled always loved to do something fun. He finally reached her, wrapping his small arms around he jean covered legs. Laughing she pulled him into her arms hugging him close to her chest. She smelled of warm earth and sweets. He couldn't hear the words that they were saying to one another but whatever was said was ended when she started to tickle him and he laughing like a wild child ran from her to the back of the house towards the garden where they would play till the sky turned a deep crimson and the cold and hunger pains would drive them into the house. There they would continue happy and safe in their little world to love one another unconditionally and away from the prying eyes of the religious fanatics of Fortuna. As the dream continued on Nero sleepily thought to wonder why his loving mother would want to live in Fortuna, it might have been beautiful but it was as cold as Capulet with the people that lived they're tainting it with they're fanaticism for Sparda.

**Author's Note: Hello, sorry for not updating like I said I would. My computer broke and I am now looking for a place to upload it. I didn't really like this chapter all that much its way to short. I the original is on my broken computer. When I do get the chance to update again I will make the chapter longer. If anyone has any questions feel free to message me about them.** **Also could someone tell me how to fix my formatting, I hate that the story comes out looking so weird. **


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